Zephaniah
Zephaniah is given to both girls and boys: 20 girls and 123 boys were given it in 2025 (#6,110 among girls’ names and #1,458 among boys’, #2,793 among all names counting both); 3,857 Americans have been recorded with it since 1972 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,810 Americans named Zephaniah and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 13 years old and half are between 7 and 20.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Zephaniah by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Zephaniah mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Zephaniah is “a male given name from Hebrew.”
From Hebrew צְפַנְיָה (ts’fanyá).
/zɛfəˈnaɪə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Zephaniah?
#1,458 among boys’ names, 2025
Zephaniah fell from #1,415 in 2015 to #1,458 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 63.6 to 72.0 per million.
194 babies in 2019, the peak
Zephaniah peaked in 2019, when 194 babies were given it (171 boys, #1,143 among boys’ names). The 143 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 74% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 20 | #6,110 | 123 | #1,458 |
| 2024 | 14 | #7,958 | 144 | #1,339 |
| 2023 | 18 | #6,670 | 125 | #1,457 |
| 2022 | 13 | #8,527 | 119 | #1,522 |
| 2021 | 21 | #5,946 | 132 | #1,396 |
| 2020 | 19 | #6,317 | 125 | #1,397 |
| 2019 | 23 | #5,605 | 171 | #1,143 |
| 2018 | 19 | #6,511 | 152 | #1,227 |
| 2017 | 27 | #5,042 | 138 | #1,313 |
| 2016 | 28 | #4,986 | 144 | #1,274 |
Every recorded year (51)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 19 | #6,714 | 122 | #1,415 |
| 2014 | 18 | #6,980 | 123 | #1,388 |
| 2013 | 23 | #5,826 | 129 | #1,337 |
| 2012 | 15 | #8,202 | 117 | #1,427 |
| 2011 | 24 | #5,721 | 117 | #1,424 |
| 2010 | 15 | #8,264 | 108 | #1,516 |
| 2009 | 20 | #6,804 | 109 | #1,527 |
| 2008 | 20 | #6,792 | 121 | #1,407 |
| 2007 | 14 | #8,998 | 109 | #1,476 |
| 2006 | 16 | #7,862 | 91 | #1,604 |
| 2005 | 10 | #10,911 | 85 | #1,616 |
| 2004 | 13 | #8,705 | 75 | #1,716 |
| 2003 | 8 | #12,393 | 63 | #1,881 |
| 2002 | 10 | #10,230 | 66 | #1,767 |
| 2001 | 12 | #8,744 | 59 | #1,888 |
| 2000 | 6 | #15,014 | 68 | #1,694 |
| 1999 | 9 | #10,330 | 43 | #2,195 |
| 1998 | 9 | #10,111 | 52 | #1,895 |
| 1997 | 7 | #12,059 | 37 | #2,307 |
| 1996 | 7 | #11,788 | 41 | #2,109 |
| 1995 | under 5 | 29 | #2,620 | |
| 1994 | under 5 | 29 | #2,612 | |
| 1993 | under 5 | 21 | #3,239 | |
| 1992 | under 5 | 11 | #5,228 | |
| 1991 | under 5 | 18 | #3,454 | |
| 1990 | under 5 | 18 | #3,460 | |
| 1989 | under 5 | 17 | #3,439 | |
| 1988 | under 5 | 11 | #4,443 | |
| 1987 | under 5 | 15 | #3,333 | |
| 1986 | under 5 | 9 | #4,846 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 7 | #5,776 | |
| 1984 | under 5 | 11 | #3,921 | |
| 1983 | under 5 | 7 | #5,480 | |
| 1982 | under 5 | 11 | #3,961 | |
| 1981 | under 5 | 14 | #3,218 | |
| 1980 | under 5 | 7 | #5,520 | |
| 1978 | under 5 | 7 | #5,052 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 8 | #4,577 | |
| 1976 | under 5 | 8 | #4,413 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 7 | #4,794 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 7 | #4,436 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Zephaniah a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 3,857 Americans recorded as Zephaniah, 12% are girls and 88% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Zephaniah: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Zephaniah, and how old are they?
3,810 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 3,857 Americans ever recorded as Zephaniah. The median Zephaniah alive today is 13 years old; half are between 7 and 20.
The 2020 Census counted 2,359 people named Zephaniah (277 women and girls, 2,082 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,985 born in the U.S. The Census count is 21% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 40 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 264 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,510 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,000 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Zephaniah born?
The states with the most babies named Zephaniah are California, Texas and Florida, with 67% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 15 | #1,298 | 0.6× |
| Texas | 9 | #1,907 | 0.8× |
| Florida | 6 | #1,828 | 0.7× |
| Colorado | 5 | #965 | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | #1,436 | 0.5× |
| Michigan | 5 | #1,254 | 0.1× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Zephaniah with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Zephaniah
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Zephaniah and names like it
- Compare Zephaniah and ReeveBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sZephaniah peaked in 2019.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Zephaniah since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Zephaniah: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2019The year the most babies were named Zephaniah.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Zephaniah alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with ZMost given first.